<p>This is one piece of statistics that will not endear Chris Gayle’s fans or for that matter all those Orange Cap winners for most runs in the brief history of the Indian Premier League.<br /><br /></p>.<p>With a match to go in IPL 5, there is little challenge to the West Indian in the race to wear the Orange Cap. With a whopping 733 runs from 15 league matches, the hard-hitting left-hander is well ahead of his nearest rivals Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.<br /><br />Sehwag, with 495 runs, is well over 200 runs behind the Jamaican while Gambhir has an almost impossible task of scoring 145 runs in Sunday’s final to finish as the highest run-getter. Gambhir, however, wouldn’t be too keen to overtake Gayle if he is given to superstitions like most cricketers are.<br /><br />It would be unkind to call it the curse of the Orange Cap, but the fact is none of the teams with the highest run-getter in their ranks over the last five years has been able to win the title. Right from its inaugural edition in 2008 when Kings XI Punjab’s Shaun Marsh (616) emerged the top-scorer to most probably Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Gayle in the current season, all these prolific run getters have had to face the disappointment of missing out on the trophy.<br /><br />In fact, Gayle was also the top run-getter (608) in the previous edition when Royal Challengers finished runners-up to Chennai Super Kings. In 2009 when the IPL caravan moved to South Africa, Super Kings’ Matthew Hayden (572) won the Orange Cap but his team crashed out in the semifinals against Bangalore. Sachin Tendulkar hammered 618 runs in 2010 but Super Kings had the last laugh when they defeated hosts Mumbai Indians in the final for their maiden IPL title.</p>
<p>This is one piece of statistics that will not endear Chris Gayle’s fans or for that matter all those Orange Cap winners for most runs in the brief history of the Indian Premier League.<br /><br /></p>.<p>With a match to go in IPL 5, there is little challenge to the West Indian in the race to wear the Orange Cap. With a whopping 733 runs from 15 league matches, the hard-hitting left-hander is well ahead of his nearest rivals Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.<br /><br />Sehwag, with 495 runs, is well over 200 runs behind the Jamaican while Gambhir has an almost impossible task of scoring 145 runs in Sunday’s final to finish as the highest run-getter. Gambhir, however, wouldn’t be too keen to overtake Gayle if he is given to superstitions like most cricketers are.<br /><br />It would be unkind to call it the curse of the Orange Cap, but the fact is none of the teams with the highest run-getter in their ranks over the last five years has been able to win the title. Right from its inaugural edition in 2008 when Kings XI Punjab’s Shaun Marsh (616) emerged the top-scorer to most probably Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Gayle in the current season, all these prolific run getters have had to face the disappointment of missing out on the trophy.<br /><br />In fact, Gayle was also the top run-getter (608) in the previous edition when Royal Challengers finished runners-up to Chennai Super Kings. In 2009 when the IPL caravan moved to South Africa, Super Kings’ Matthew Hayden (572) won the Orange Cap but his team crashed out in the semifinals against Bangalore. Sachin Tendulkar hammered 618 runs in 2010 but Super Kings had the last laugh when they defeated hosts Mumbai Indians in the final for their maiden IPL title.</p>
